1. Urban Environments and Environmental Threats to Health
Inaugural Conference of the Institute for Sustainability, Health & Environment – ‘Anticipating Tomorrow for Change Today’
Urban Environments and Environmental Threats to Health
Professor Peter Liss, UEA

2. Overview About the RCEP
RCEP report on The Urban Environment – positive and negative scenarios for the relationship between health and environmental sustainability to 2035
Artificial Light in the Environment
Novel materials in the environment
Key drivers of change
Conclusions and role for UWE in moving forward

3. About the Royal Commission
The Commission was established by Royal Warrant in 1970;
It is independent of Government;
It is a ‘Committee of Experts’ not an ‘Expert Committee’
Our Terms of Reference:
“To advise Government and Parliament on matters, both national and international, concerning pollution of the environment, the adequacy of research in this field, and future possibilities of danger to the environment.”
Only Royal Commission in UK
been in existence for 39 years – terms of reference reflect the times – no mention of climate change or even climate in the terms of reference, from 1970

4. 13 Members of the Royal Commission:
Sir John Lawton, Chairman and formerly Chief Exec., NERC
Professor Nicholas Cumpsty, Imperial College
Professor Mike Depledge, University of Plymouth
Dr Ian Graham-Bryce, formerly University of Dundee
Professor Jeffrey Jowell, UCL
Professor Maria Lee, UCL
Professor Peter Liss, UEA
Professor Peter Matthews, NI authority for utilities regulation
Professor Judith Petts, University of Birmingham
Professor Steve Rayner, University of Oxford
Professor Michael Roberts, former Chief Exec., CSL
Professor Joanne Scott, UCL
Professor Lynda Warren, Aberystwyth University

5. The RCEP published a report on The Urban Environment in 2007
It considers the main issues surrounding environmental policy for the urban areas...

6. Why do towns and cities matter?
Over 80% of the UK population
already live in urban
areas – this figure is rising
Impact of urban areas on
environment is large (CO2 emissions: see map)
But: little over-arching policy
Presents us with a great
opportunity to influence policy

7. The Urban Environment is complex
Affects health and wellbeing of everyone who lives and works there;
Problems are concentrated in the most deprived areas: environmental, social and economic factors interact;
Relationship between health, wellbeing and place are complex, interacting, and poorly understood.
Interacting factors influencing an individual’s health

8. Urban Environments: Threats to health
Mental illness – association between urban residence and prevalence of psychiatric
disorders in the UK
Obesity
– 34,000 deaths p.a.
Obesity: 34,000 premature deaths and about 16 million attributable days of certified incapacity per year in England
Air pollution: 24,000 premature deaths per year in Great Britain, reduced average life expectancy by around 8 months in 2005
Mental illness: Association between urban residence and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the UK, which persists after adjustment for confounding factors.
Climate: Winter – 25,700 extra deaths occurred in the period Dec 2005-March 2006 in the UK, compared with the death rate for other months of the year.
Certain urban air pollutants are on the rise (ozone and nitrogen dioxide)
Lack of exercise – the car based society – is one major cause of rising obesity.
There is clear evidence for the rise in mental illness in urban areas.
Much more attention needs to be paid to the design of urban areas and to transport-related problems / air pollution.
The Commission recommend that human health considerations are closely tied to Environmental Impact Assessments in new urban developments.
Air pollution
– 24,000 deaths p.a.
Climate – Winter – 25,700 extra deaths p.a .; Summer – at least 2,000 excess deaths p.a.

9. Urban Environments: Benefits to health
Mentally stimulates those who live and work there
Green space – important for health and wellbeing, provides community benefits (e.g. allotments)
Green space also provides ecosystem services: alleviation from flooding, river restoration, biodiversity

10. Artificial light in the environment
The RCEP will be publishing a short report on Artificial Light in the Environment in late 2009;
The Urban Environment identified light as an important factor in determining local environmental quality;
The RCEP has learnt that disruption of ‘natural’ light can have significant effects on plants, vertebrates (including humans) and invertebrates

11. Changes in levels of light at night – 1993 (left) to 2000 (right: yellow represents changes in levels at 2000 from 1993 levels) – note increase not in London but in more rural areas.
(a) (left) Map showing light levels at night in Analysis by RCEP using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line Scan data (GMDC-OLS) collected by US Air Force Weather Agency and distributed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center.
(b) (Right) Change in light at night from 1993 to The change is shown with respect to the colour classes in a). A pixel becoming brighter by 3 classes (+3: for example changing from a)’s dark blue to its red) is shown as red in b). Most areas became brighter but a minority became darker in the intervening 7 year period- in general these were offshore where the locations of active platforms changed. The possibility of minor differences in the geographical registration of the satellite data and of issues with sensor calibration means that the map should be regarded as indicative rather than exact.

12. Artificial light in the environment - opportunities
>1million of the UK’s stock of 8million street lights will need to be replaced in the next few years (already past the end of their design life);
Opportunity to ensure that their replacements avoid some of the adverse effects of the current stock (£, C, spillage)
Artificial light in the environment - opportunities
>1m of the UK’s stock of 8m street lights will need to be replaced in the next 2yrs (already past the end of their design life)
Opportunity to ensure that their replacements avoid some of the adverse effects of the current stock
However, what will be the impact of new light technology on the natural environment?
However, what will be the impact of new light technology on the natural environment?

13. Novel materials in the environment
In 2008 the RCEP published a report on Novel Materials in the Environment: The case of nanotechnology
The rate of innovation in the field of nanotechnology is outpacing our ability to test the affect these materials have on the natural environment
Novel Materials in the Environment
The RCEP published this report in November 2008
Nanomaterials are materials that exist in the nanoscale and have properties and therefore functionality that is radically different from the properties/functionality exhibited by the bulk form of the substance – e.g. nanosilver – biocidal, and bulk silver is inert. They have primarily been designed to improve the performance.
The commission identified that the rate of innovation in the sector is outpacing the ability to test the affect many of these materials have on the natural environment.

14. The Commission did not find evidence of actual harm caused by nanomaterials;
However, the lack of standardised testing methodologies for nanomaterials in the environment suggests that we would not necessarily know if they were causing harm
Images: Carbon nanotobes, St Pancras station and fresh feet socks from M&S

15. The Commission therefore recommended the establishment of an ‘early warning system’ for nanomaterials, incorporating a simple checklist
They also called for greater Government investment in the training of toxicologists and eco-toxicologists

16. Conclusions and role for UWE in moving forward?
Integrated approach for water, transport, energy and waste in urban environments – an environmental contract between national and local Governments
Known unknowns: artificial light and novel materials in the environment – pressure on natural systems impacting on sustainability
We need an integrated approach for water, transport, energy and waste in urban environments – an environmental contract between national and local Governments
Known Unknows: We know that artificial light and novel materials impact on biological systems but we do not necessarily know the extent to which they impact on the natural environment.

17. For copies of the Commission’s reports please see www.rcep.org.uk
For hard copies please contact: